Gingerbread Cookies

(thekitchenismyplayground.com)

Here's my perfect gingerbread man ... just plain. No frosting. No icing. No decorations. Just 'nekked,' some might say. I like to taste the wonderful spicy gingerbread flavor without any competition from sweet icings or embellishments. For more recipes like these visit TheKitchenIsMyPlayground.com.

Cook Time:10 min

Prep Time:1 hours

Total Time:1 hours10 min

Servings: 24

Ingredients:

1/4 Cup brown sugar

Generous 1/3 Cup molasses

2 Teaspoon ground ginger

1 Teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 Teaspoon ground cloves

2 Teaspoon baking soda

1/2 Cup butter, cut into chunks

1 egg

2 1/2 to 3 Cup all-purpose flour

Preparation:

Put sugar, molasses, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves in a pan* and heat to boiling point. Stir in baking soda. Take off heat and pour mixture over the butter in a bowl.

Stir until the butter has melted. Break egg into the mixture and then work in the flour. Mix gently together until it becomes a smooth dough.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour.

When chilled and stiffened slightly, roll out and cut out cookies with cookie cutters (I roll mine a bit thick ... probably about 1/4" thick. I like thick, soft cookies).

Place cookies on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 325 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Decorate with icing, if desired.

Place your brown sugar, molasses, and spices in a saucepan larger than you think you'll need. When you stir in the baking soda, the mixture foams up on you! The batch will make approximately 2 dozen cookies when the dough is rolled about 1/4" thick and cut with "standard size" cookie cutters (3 to 4").